Miracleman #15
Miracleman #15 serves as the narrative and emotional climax of Alan Moore's landmark 'Book Three: Olympus' arc, delivering a superhero battle of unprecedented ferocity that fundamentally expanded what the genre was permitted to depict. Moore structures the issue — titled 'Nemesis' — around a deliberate mirroring of hero and villain, using the destruction of London not merely as spectacle but as a moral reckoning that forces Miracleman into an act of mercy-killing that closes his human chapter forever. John Totleben's dense, painterly artwork matches the prose's gravity panel for panel, making the collaboration one of the most formally ambitious in Copper Age comics. Critics and historians have consistently cited the issue as a turning point that demonstrated the superhero comic could sustain tragedy on a genuine literary scale.
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John Totleben joined the Eclipse Miracleman series as sole artist for the final six issues of Moore's run, bringing a painterly horror sensibility that differed sharply from the series' earlier art styles. Moore had reportedly plotted the Kid Miracleman confrontation well in advance, and the longer page count of issue #15 relative to other 'Olympus' chapters gave the creative team room to execute the climax at full scale. The issue was published under Eclipse Comics' 10th Anniversary banner in November 1988, and a noted production quirk — the red ink on many copies' covers fading to orange from right to left — means condition-conscious collectors can spot variant print states at a glance. Coloring of the interior is attributed to Sam Parsons.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Written by Alan Moore with full art (pencils, inks, and cover) by John Totleben; published by Eclipse Comics, November 1988.
- Main story title: 'Book Three, Chapter Five: Nemesis' — the concluding chapter of the 'Olympus' arc.
- Deaths of Kid Miracleman (Johnny Bates) and Warpsmith ambassador Aza Chorn occur in this issue; Johnny Bates reverts to human form when critically wounded and is subsequently killed by Miracleman.
- Miraclewoman, Firedrake (Huey Moon), and Warpsmith Phon Mooda also appear in the climactic battle alongside Miracleman.
- A five-page back-up story, 'Miracleman and the Rock of Eternity,' reprints a vintage tale from Mick Anglo Studios' Amazing New Adventures of Marvelman #305 (circa 1955), providing period contrast to Moore's revisionist narrative.
- The issue was reprinted in the Spanish Planeta DeAgostini Miracleman #10 (December 1990) and again in Marvel's Miracleman (2014 series) #15 (April 2015), the latter collected in the Miracleman: Olympus hardcover trade paperback.
- The Marvel 2015 reprint edition was accompanied by variant covers by Tim Sale and Bill Sienkiewicz, in addition to a Totleben cover variant.
- Many original Eclipse copies exhibit a print defect in which the red ink on the cover fades to orange from right to left — a known production artifact documented by multiple collector sources.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Marvelman #305
Reprinted in Miracleman #10 (1990), Miracleman #3 (1990), Miracleman #15 (2015)
Key issues in Miracleman
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